Chapter 25
Kurt wasn’t interested in revenge. But he did want to irritate the Chinese as much as possible. They couldn’t have missed the Lyra pulling into the harbor, but he wanted to do more.
He approached Paul, addressing him as if he were a used-car salesman. “What can you tell me about these drones?”
Paul had a bandage over the gash on his eye and a bruise around it. But his wit was as sharp as ever. “Are you looking to buy or rent?”
Kurt laughed. “I’m looking to surveil, if that’s even a word.”
“It is,” Paul assured him. “And it’s one of our favorites here at Drone Depot. Let me show you some options.”
They were standing in a storeroom reserved for electronic equipment.
The compartment was the size of a three-car garage and crammed with cabinets, tools, and a pair of worktables.
Paul bypassed the work desk and stepped over to a metal cabinet that occupied an entire wall of the compartment.
Rolling a garage-style door up to the top, he revealed shelves filled with the insect-like forms of various different drones.
Ignoring several of the larger models, he pulled one off the top shelf.
It was no larger than a sparrow. Placing it on the desk he unfolded the four rotors.
“May I present the Hawkeye Raptor X-5000.”
Kurt studied the tiny machine. “Not knocking your nomenclature. But this is a rather delicate-looking machine for such a big name.”
Paul smiled. The bandage above his eye wrinkled. “It’s actually just called the P5. But I didn’t want it to feel less-than surrounded by all these other drones.”
“Wise,” Kurt said. “And what can the Hawkeye Raptor do for me?”
“For one thing,” Paul said, “it’s nearly silent.
These rotors are so large in comparison to the body that they can move significantly slower than normal drone rotors.
They’re also covered with a foamy material and dimples like a golf ball, which reduce the turbulent airflow over the blades.
A hundred feet above you, the sound is no more than the rustle of the wind. ”
“Stealthy little thing,” Kurt said. “I like that. What can it see?”
“What can’t it see?” Paul replied. “It has two cameras, a wide-angle, infrared search unit, and a high-powered sensor that operates in the visible spectrum while using a two-hundred-millimeter zoom lens. With that you can see a cat’s whiskers from a thousand feet away.”
“Sounds like a perfect spy drone,” Kurt said, surprised that NUMA had such a machine on board. “What do we normally use this for? And don’t tell me it’s for keeping an eye on the Swedish Bikini Team.”
“Uh…” Paul stammered. “No. We use it to study wildlife. The high-intensity buzz of a regular drone sets most animals on edge. A lot of them will scatter when they hear one coming. I’ve seen a polar bear run from a ten-pound drone as if it were being chased by a fleet of Apache helicopters.
But the P5 could land on a sleeping polar bear and never wake it up. ”
“Perfect,” Kurt said. “I’ll take it. Now…What do you have that’s obnoxiously loud? Like, ‘I can’t stand the neighbors, and really want to annoy them’ loud?”
Paul turned back to the shelves, looking high and low before settling on a full-size model. “This one sounds like a chainsaw and a misfiring engine all at once. It has a slight nick in one of the blades, which makes the sound oscillate in a most pestiferous and irritating style.”
“Pestiferous,” Kurt repeated. “Exactly what I’m going for. I want to annoy the Chinese with the big drone while spying on them with the little one.”
“Sounds logical,” Paul said. “There is one problem, though. The big drone can be controlled from here, but the Hawkeye Raptor has a short-range transmitter. The operator has to be close to the action to use it.”
“That’s okay,” Kurt said. “I know a couple of volunteers who might be ready to get off the ship and walk around on dry land for a while.”
“Perfect,” Paul said. “Cash or credit?”
“Barter,” Kurt suggested. “You set up these drones for me and I’ll let you and Gamay take my place at the President’s next state dinner. Trust me, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
“Really?” Paul said. His face lit up. “That sounds amazing.”
Kurt grinned wickedly. “It does sound that way.”